


None Should Mourn Alone

by lunarknightz



Series: Death of Supermanverse [7]
Category: Smallville, Superman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Death of Superman, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 07:27:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8135422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarknightz/pseuds/lunarknightz
Summary: Jonathan isn't dealing well with Clark's loss.  He's not the only one.





	

"Jonathan?" Martha touched her husband's shoulder gently. "Are you okay?"

"Can't sleep." He muttered, turning over and twisting his body in an attempt to get comfortable.

"Yeah." Martha replied softly. "I keep on picturing that statue at the tomb. It really was beautiful. They did a good job and all, but...it made it seem so real."

"Sweetie, anything would seem more real than holding a memorial service for our son at the empty grave of his wife who is still alive and kicking." Jonathan growled, sitting up and punching his pillow. "Though I do have to say that statue is a work of art. It would seem that Lex spared no expense." He sighed. "It looked bigger in person than it did on T.V., didn't it?"

"Yes" Martha turned to face her husband. "I wish Chloe would have let us take the couch, or even an Aerobed like Lana and Pete. She's been through so much lately, that poor girl." She sighed. "Jonathan, how can we just go back to Smallville and leave that girl all alone?"

"I know, Martha." Jonathan leaned over in the bed and pushed a lock of hair out of Martha's face. "She won't be alone, though. She's got family and friends here- Lois, and that nice boy Bruce we met the other night? This is her home, Martha, and you know that both fish and company begin to stink after three days. It would be best for everybody if we just left on schedule."

"....I suppose you're right, but Chloe bothers me."

"How so?"

"It's the look in her eyes." Martha said, wringing the thin cotton sheet in her hands. "She puts on a brave face for the world, but inside she's dying. I know what that feels like." Her voice grew softer. "The summer when Clark went off with Jor-El, and you were hovering around death? That's how I felt then."

"Chloe knows that we love her, Martha girl. She's our daughter, and the fact that she didn't get to marry Clark won't change that." Jonathan swung his feet to the floor. "I've got to get some aspirin."

"Jonathan?"

He leaned over and kissed her quickly on the lips. "Just a few sore old muscles. Nothing to worry your pretty little head over. Get some rest. " Jonathan closed the door softly behind him.

As he tiptoed down the dark hallway, Jonathan saw something move in the living room. He ambled towards the sound.

Chloe was standing in front of the large sliding glass doors of her apartment, gazing at the city of Metropolis below. Cradled in her arms was Daisy, a stuffed cow that had been a thirteenth birthday present from Clark. Jonathan could still remember how picky his son had been while shopping- they'd gone to every store in Smallville, and half the stores in Grandville before Clark had found and settled on that cow. The birthday girl had loved the gift, and apparently it was a treasured keepsake.

Jonathan hung back in the shadows of the hallway, examining the girl who had almost been his daughter in law. Chloe had always been like a ray of sunshine- he could recall the twelve year old who first came to eat dinner at the farmhouse, the expression of wonder on her face when she first tasted farm fresh milk. His memory lingered on determination and strength that had shown in her eighteen year old eyes the day Chloe had shared the story of how she learned Clark's secret with Jonathan and Martha.

Chloe looked tiny in the moonlight, more like a scared and lonely little girl than the capable career woman that she was. Bleakness and sadness seemed to occupy ever line of her body.

It wasn't right.

She deserved better.

Jonathan didn't know the whole story behind Chloe's dealings with Lionel Luthor, and frankly he didn't want to. Dealing with that devil had forced her to grow up quickly. The death of her father, had been a crushing blow to Chloe- had she ever recovered from lloosing the only parent she had before she was finished with college? The fallout from Gabe Sullivan's death during the plot to bring down Lionel down once and forever had been massive. It had been the death knell for both Chloe and Clark's fragile friendships with Lex.

Out of all the roles Jonathan pictured Lex Luthor playing in his son's life, it was never that of an arch nemesis. Jonathan didn't know what had hurt his son the most- the different plots that Lex had launched, or the fact that to do the job he felt called to do, Clark had to fight someone who had been his best friend.

Things had been looking so good before Clark's death. Chloe and Clark, after years of dancing around each other, were finally on the same page, planning a future together. Their jobs were going well- Clark had recently signed a book deal, and Chloe's had been invited to lecture at Metropolis University a couple of times. They might have started a family soon, well, goodness only knows how the reproducing would have went, with the Kryptonian genes in the cocktail, but if they'd been desperate to have children, they could have adopted. Adopting Clark was the best thing that he and Martha had ever done.

Clark was gone.

It shouldn't have hurt this much to realize it, not now. Wasn't time supposed to make these things easier? Each and every time Jonathan thought about it, he felt sharp pain, almost like getting a knife to the chest.

Clark had been gone before. But this time he wouldn't come back when his journey was done. Clark wasn't off rebelling in Metropolis, Jor-El would not return him, and this wasn't a world tour for his son to discover where he fit in this world.

Clark's destiny was met. He was dead.

Jonathan felt like an old and broken man, his two children dead and buried in the ground.

Soon he would join them. It was only a matter of time.

He tried to choke back the sob rising from his throat, only to have it escape his body as a sneeze.

Chloe heard him and immediately spun around. "Jonathan?"

"Didn't mean to startle you." The words felt heavy in his mouth. All the reassurances and old tired platitudes he'd given Martha a few moments ago seemed like the stupidest bunch of hogwash he'd ever said. "Martha and I are worried about leaving you tomorrow."

Chloe's eyes grew large. "Worried about me? I'm worried about you! I know this has to be hell with you, and I haven't been much of a comfort at all. Being in Metropolis has to make everything worse, ground zero for all blitz and hype Superman. At least in Smallville you're a bit safer from stuff like this." Chloe bent down and picked up that morning's copy of the Metropolis Star from the coffee table. She tossed it to Jonathan. "SUPERMAN'S SECRET WIFE?" The front page headline blared.

"Shit like this makes me embarrassed to be a reporter." Chloe squeezed Daisy tightly.

"None of this is your fault, Chloe. The articles that you write are of a higher caliber than this trite. You fight to tell the truth. That's noble, Chloe. That's a great thing to do."

"Then how come I couldn't save him? Clark saved my life a million times over, and I couldn't save him..." Chloe errupted in tears.

Jonathan strode over to Chloe and embraced her, sheltering her in his arms. His tears blended with hers as they grieved the loss of someone who had meant ever so much to them both.

He felt protective of her, of this little girl.

It made sense in a poetic sort of way.

A parentless child recieving solace from a childless parent.

When Chloe had cried herself to a point approaching sleep, Jonathan gently steered her towards the couch and covered her up, much like he'd herded Clark to the couch the year when Lois had stayed with them.

Martha was asleep when he returned to the bedroom. Jonathan lowered his body to the bed gently before closing his eyes and dreaming of his little boy, his only son.


End file.
